A MEMBER of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and a suspected member of the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed in a gunfight in Bilar, Bohol on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020.
First Lt. Elma Grace Remonde, civil military officer of the 47th Infantry Battalion (IB), said this was their third encounter with armed men and the first time to have casualties since Bohol was declared insurgency-free on Feb. 11, 2010.
“It was a joint operation between the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The encounter happened at 9:40 a.m. in Barangay Cansumbol with about 15 suspected rebels and our troops,” she said.
Remonde said the armed men fired first at the troops who were there conducting hot pursuit operations.
The clash lasted around 30 minutes.
The dead soldier was identified as Private First Class Jerald Villanueva, 26, of Purok 8, Barangay Upper Dansuli, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
The fallen suspected NPA member was 55-year-old Marcelo Tejero Maldos of Cantumocad, Loon, Bohol. He was identified through his voter’s ID found at the scene.
After the gunfight, the communist insurgents fled in different directions, leaving their dead behind, Remonde said.
Government troops have beefed up their forces for the hot pursuit.
Recovered from the encounter site were two .38 revolvers, a .357 Magnum and several ammunition and subversive documents.
Lt. Allan Tabudlo, commander of the 47th IB based in Bohol, said the AFP, the PNP and the local government unit of Bilar are coordinating to protect the community.
“We ought to protect the people and do what we must. What happened today is evidence that the network we have built remains strong against these people. We are doing our best to capture these savages,” Tabudlo said.
He said they also honored Villanueva, who fought and sacrificed his life.
Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, Police Regional Office 7 director, said the communist terrorist group (CTG) has been trying to return to Bohol.
“Bohol has always been a target for recovery by the CTG after it was successfully cleared of the group’s presence in the mid-2000s. Ever since then, government security forces were always on the lookout for the CTG to make sure that Bohol remains peaceful and free from the enemy. The recent encounter, to include the discovery of an encampment late last year, only shows that their attempt to recover Bohol will never prosper,” Ferro said.
Bohol was declared insurgent-free on Feb. 11, 2010. However, government forces encountered unidentified armed men believed to be NPA rebels in Barangay Campagao, Bilar in 2018 and in Barangay Rizal, Batuan. No casualties were reported in both encounters.
Asked how secure Cebu is from insurgents, Ferro said Cebu will not be infiltrated by the NPA.
“Cebu, on the other hand, rejected much earlier the CTG. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, during her first term, was even the first and only governor then to have declared an all-out war against the CTG. Cebu will remain insurgent-free because the Cebuanos and their leaders will never be threatened by CTGs to be terrorized by them,” he said.
Cebu was declared insurgency-free in March 2010. Since then, there has been no reported movement of communist rebels in the province.
However, some leaders and members of the NPA were caught in Cebu.
In November 2017, Rustico Tan, the alleged vice commanding officer of the NPA’s Western Visayas operations command, which operates in Negros Island, was captured in Barangay Pasil in the southern town of Santander.
Suspected NPA rebel Jonathan Lacadman, 26, was caught in the southwestern town of Dumanjug in December 2017. He was facing 15 warrants of arrest for various criminal offenses, including his alleged participation in the ambush-slay of Supt. Arnel Arpon and six other policemen in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental in July that year. (JOB with AYB)